Experimental and numerical analysis on load capacity and failure process of T-joint: Effect produced by the bond-line length

Aim of this work is to analyze the load capacity of the adhesive-bonded T-joints under tension load. And the work presents an experimental investigation into the effect produced by the bond-line length on adhesive bonded T-joints made of steel and aluminum. The experimental results showed that the bond-line length did not have any effect on the ultimate load of T-joints; however, by increasing the bond-line length the energy absorbed capacity of T-joints increased significantly. A concept, balanced and imbalanced joints, was proposed to illustrate the influence caused by stiffness ratio (R) between two adherends of T-joints. And it can be found that the ratio R had a significant effect on the ultimate load. In order to model the adhesive between joint components and simulate the damage propagation, a cohesive zone model based analysis was carried out using finite element method in ABAQUS program. Also, failure process of adhesive can be modeled. One can observe that only the upper end of adhesive layer transmits the load in the beginning. And after the damage occurs, it will propagate along the bond line from the upper end to the lower end.